It is well known to provide particular harnesses for controlling movement of an animal's head. Essentially, such harnesses constitute headgear for guiding movement of an animal by providing control of the animal's head. Examples of such harnesses include the halter, the hackamore, and in equitation or driving sports, the bridle.
With reference to FIG. 1, it is specifically known in the art to provide a harness 10 for controlling movement of an animal, in the depicted example a horse. Such a harness 10 typically includes at least a headpiece 12 (also called a crownpiece or crown) which passes behind the animal's ears and over the animal's poll P (the top or back of the animal's head), a noseband 14 which encircles the animal's nose, and opposed cheekpieces 16, 18 connecting the headpiece 12 and noseband 14. The cheekpieces 16, 18 may simply be extensions of the headpiece 12, depending on the particular manufacture of the harness 10. These components function primarily to retain the harness 10 on the head of the animal, without slippage.
Of course, such harnesses may include additional elements, in accordance with the type of harness under consideration. For example, a bridle as is shown in FIG. 1 will typically also include a browband 20 which passes over the animal's forehead and attaches to or extends from the headpiece 12, and a throatlatch 22 (also called a throatlash) which passes under the animal's windpipe area and also typically attaches to or extends from the headpiece 12. Additional elements may include a bit (not shown for convenience) which may be one of a number of known designs, and reins (not shown for convenience) to provide means for controlling the animal's movement. Each element of the harness 10 cooperates to provide a desired level of control of the animal's head by a rider or driver, either by preventing slippage or dislodging of the harness 10 from the animal's head or by applying pressure to various sensitive areas of the animal's head such as the tongue, lips, bars (fleshy spaces in the lower jaw), chin groove, and the like.
In, for example, equine sports, the primary pressure points used to control the horse are on or in the horse's mouth, nose, and chin. To achieve a successful collaboration between the animal wearing a harness as described above and the animal's handler, a harness must be capable of applying an effective amount of pressure to such pressure points, to achieve the desired reaction from the animal. A well-trained, intelligent animal such as a sport horse will eventually understand what is expected of it based on minimal input from the handler or rider, and accordingly over time less pressure will be required at the pressure points to achieve the desired goal. Indeed, many well-trained or highly sensitive animals will react adversely to overly harsh application of pressure, or to excessive pressure at the various known pressure points.
The primary function of the headpiece of a harness, as described above, is to prevent the harness from slipping forward down the animal's face and off of the animal's nose. For that reason, in use the headpiece passes over the animal's poll, thereby preventing such slippage. However, the animal's poll, or the fleshy area on the top of the head immediately behind the ears, is also quite sensitive, and application of undue or unneeded pressure thereto may provoke an adverse reaction from the animal as discussed above. There is accordingly a need in the art for a harness for controlling the movement of an animal which, while providing the desired secure fit on the animal's head, does not apply undue or overly harsh pressure thereto.